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And we also have Clinton Anderson, the CEO of Fourth, who will be moderating the conversation with Jason. Jason, how about I let you provide the audience some details about your background and you can likewise tell them a little bit about Chop Shop.

My name is Jason Morgan, CEO of Original Chop Shop. We bought the brand name in 2016three unitsand I've grown it to 26. After a short stint of attempting to be an accounting professional for about a year and a half, I transitioned into gambling establishment residential or commercial property and worked in corporate financing.

I was the first employee there after personal equity bought business. Helped grow that from 20 to 150 areas, took it public in 2014, and then left about a year and a half after going public to do this at Chop Store. My hope is that we can duplicate the success we had at Zos, and we're off to a really great start.

We're at the counter, we bring the food to the table. The key to the program is we have a drink component as well with fresh-squeezed juices and protein shakes.

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A little more complex than some of the walk-the-line principles that are out there, but we believe we've got something quite unique. We're going to include another store this year and at least 4 shops next year. So we will be 31 or so shops by the end of next year.

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I have actually been in this role for about six years. Fourth, as many of you understand, is a leading provider of software solutions to the restaurant and hospitality industry. Our objective is to assist our consumers be successful in driving success and being efficientmanaging labor, handling stock, and generally providing them with tools they require to deliver their vision.

It's rare to have business that are cherished and growing rapidly, that can repeat that success every year. Jason, among the reasons I was so fired up to have you join our session is the success at Zos was remarkable. I've only met a handful of brand names where there was such a strong consumer affinity for the brand name.

When you talk to customers about Chop Shop, they like the place. And to be able to take what is a relatively complicated idea in terms of delivering an excellent experience for the customer, and be able to grow that from a few shops to now north of 30 stores next yearit's incredible.

We're going to speak about how to scale a dining establishment service. Every restaurateur I ever speak to has dreams of taking one shop, two shops, 5 shops, and turning it into something much biggerexpanding across the city, throughout the state, into numerous states, and ultimately nationwide, even worldwide reach. But it's difficult, specifically in today's environment.

It's not a simple time to drive profitability and development at the exact same time. How do you scale it and make it effective? Second, beyond technology, how do you scale terrific teams?

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The very first concern I have for you, Jasonlook, you've done this twice now in the restaurant market. What has your experience been in terms of what it takes to really drive success in expanding restaurants?

We talked a little bit before we started about LinkedIn, and I've got a post teed approximately follow this next week about what the playbook is likepoint by pointfor growing an organization. To me, among the key things, and I feel very lucky, is that both brands I have actually been included with are special.

And there's nothing exactly like Chop Store in terms of what we're finishing with a large, diverse menu. Most brand names today are extremely singularly focused in regards to what they're offering from a foodstuff. I feel like we began at a benefit with both brands by having something unique that filled a specific niche no one else was doing.

A lot of it starts with the brand. Does your brand name have something special that no one else is doing?

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The second thingI originated from a finance background, so a lot of my knowings are more finance and data-driven versus a great deal of early start-up restaurateurs who are innovative types. They love the food, they developed the menu, they built the brand name. I probably couldn't do that from scratch. If you provided me something that has all those elements in place, I can take it from there and put the playbook in place.

They do not understand their breakeven sales. They do not comprehend how margin enhances as sales boost. They don't understand cash-on-cash returns. I've seen numerous business where the numbers simply don't work. And yet people state: let's open 10 more. And I'll state: why? It does not earn money. Stop. You require to discover an idea that is unique.

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If you don't have those 2 things, you should not be developing stores. Because as I hear your description, you've highlighted 3 things: execution, brand differentiation, and financial practicality.

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Second, you require an engaging brand name or unique idea that resonates with consumers. And another crucial lesson is about going into brand-new markets.

But when we expanded to Dallas, I anticipated new shops to do 5070% of Phoenix sales in the very first year. A lot of operators assume brand-new markets will open at full volume day one. That practically never takes place. And when the shops open sluggish, however you've signed leases and built a financial design based upon greater volumes, you get overextended.